Drought (31 page)

Peta came up and linked arms with Martin. ‘Poor little thing,' she said. ‘At least Ella's feeling better. If she keeps on getting cramps, though, the doctor may recommend that she goes on the pill.'

‘She's fourteen years old, for Christ's sake.'

‘Just because she's on the pill that doesn't mean she's going to go around and sleep with every boy in her class. She's very choosy when it comes to boys.'

‘She'd better be, otherwise I'll be going around to their houses and breaking their legs.'

He was suddenly aware that Saskia was staring at him over Mina's shoulder, unblinking, in the same way she had stared at him when he had first met her in Arlene's office. It was almost as if he were invisible, and she could see right through him, to the heat-distorted mountains behind him.

‘Come on,' he said, ‘I'll take her. Let's get you settled in the car.'

He took Mina and carried her back to his Eldorado. She was hot and damp and floppy and she smelled of stale urine and unwashed hair. Saskia sat in the passenger seat and held out her hands and Martin carefully laid Mina on her lap.

‘You and your ex seem to be getting along better and better,' said Saskia.

Martin glanced across at Ella, who was lying across the rear seats with her feet up, prodding at her cellphone. She couldn't make a call or send texts to any of her friends, because there was still no signal, but at least she could play Bejewel. Fortunately, she didn't give any indication that she had heard what Saskia had said.

‘It's called parenthood,' said Martin. ‘Just because you separate, that doesn't mean that you abandon your children.'

‘All right,' Saskia smiled. ‘No need to get saintly about it. I believe you.'

Martin closed the door as gently as he could and walked around the front of the car to the driver's side. He was opening his own door when his ears picked up the distant throbbing of a helicopter. He stopped and listened, and after a while he could hear that it was coming nearer. It was probably only a highway patrol helicopter, or an air ambulance, and most likely it was following the Twentynine Palms Highway. All the same, they were parked high up on this exposed, treeless promontory, where anybody in a helicopter could easily spot them from five miles away.

‘Santos!' he shouted out. ‘Peta! Do you hear that? Chopper coming! Let's get the hell out of here!'

Santos waved and then pointed left and downward. ‘Follow me into the canyon! It will be harder for anybody to see us down there!'

Before he closed his door, Martin heard a second helicopter approaching from the west. This one sounded as if it were flying very fast, and much lower than the first helicopter, because the roaring of its engine kept fading, and then growing louder, and then fading again, which meant that it was following the contour of the mountains.

‘What's wrong?' asked Saskia.

‘I'm not too sure. Two choppers, and I think they might be headed our way. It could just be a coincidence.'

Santos started up his Suburban. He drove along the promontory for another fifty yards and then tilted abruptly off to the left and down a track that was even narrower and steeper than the one they had followed to climb to the crest of the mountain. It was barely a track at all: more like a ridge, knobbly with rock, and Martin thought that it felt like trying to drive down the spine of a genuflecting dinosaur.

The muffler of his Eldorado took more punishment, banging loudly against the rock with almost every bump. Even though the track was so jagged, however, and even though it sloped downward at an increasingly precipitous angle, it was dead straight all the way to the floor of the canyon below, so it would take them only a few minutes to reach the comparative shelter of the canyon's overhanging walls and the twisted pine trees that grew up its sides. Not only that, the deeper recesses of the canyon were thickly filled with spiky chaparral. The rest of the Cadillac's paintwork would probably be ruined, but at least nobody would be able to see where they had gone.

‘I feel sick again,' said Ella, clinging on to Martin's headrest to stop herself being thrown from side to side. Saskia was gripping the doorhandle tightly in one hand and Mina in the other, but she kept her lips tightly pursed and said nothing.

‘Nearly there,' said Martin. He couldn't hear the helicopters at all now, even though his window was open. He had probably been right, and they had been only police helicopters or flying eyes from one of the TV stations. He could see Santos up ahead of him, just about to drive his truck into the entrance to the canyon, and he thought,
that's it, we've made it
.

At that instant, one of the helicopters came roaring around the side of the mountain, in between them and the canyon, and hovered in front of them, only about twenty-five feet from the ground. It blew up such billowing clouds of dust that it almost disappeared, but Martin could still make out that it was blue, dark blue, and that it carried the silver logo of the ESS.

He slammed on the brakes and the Eldorado slewed ninety degrees to the left. When it stopped, it see-sawed for a few seconds across the top of the ridge, but then with a buckling metallic creak it slid backward, about twenty or thirty feet, until its rear end crunched softly into a thicket of chaparral.

‘Out!' shouted Martin. ‘Get out of the car,
now
, and hit the ground!'

Even through the dust, he could see that the helicopter's side door was open, and a security guard in a dark blue uniform and sunglasses was leaning out of it, with one booted foot resting on the landing skid. He was holding a carbine across his lap, and he was tilting his head left and right, trying to see where they were. The roaring of the helicopter's rotors was overwhelming, like a sawmill, and Martin could hardly think straight.

He opened his door and knelt down beside the car. First he folded back the driver's seat so that Ella could clamber out of the back. Then he held out his hands for Saskia to pass Mina across to him. Saskia came out last, keeping her head well down, and using her elbows to wriggle across the front seats like a Marine under fire.

Once they were all out, and crouching behind the car for cover, Martin shouted, ‘Stay here! I'm going to go check on the others!'

He struggled his way through the scratchy chaparral to reach the back of the car. Opening up the trunk a few inches, he groped around inside until he found one of the Colt Commandos, and then two spare clips of ammunition. He lifted the gun out, and slotted in one of the magazines. Saskia and Ella both looked at him anxiously, but he raised his hand and shouted, ‘Don't worry! I'm not going to kill anybody! Not unless I don't have any choice!'

Staying low, he made his way past Ella and Saskia to the front of the car and then cautiously lifted his head and took a look across the hood. The helicopter was still in the same position in front of the canyon entrance, about twenty-five feet in the air, although it was rotating very slowly around and around so that the security guard with the carbine could keep all three of their vehicles covered.

He could see Peta and Tyler, hunkering down behind their Hilux. He shouted to Peta, and whistled, but the helicopter was making too much noise for him to be able to catch her attention.

Santos and Susan and the children had climbed out of their Suburban, but they had made no attempt to hide behind it, or use it as a shield. They were simply gathered beside it, quite openly, with Susan holding little George in his arms, and Santos standing between Mikey and Nathan, with his hands resting protectively on their shoulders.

Martin realized that the helicopter couldn't land here, because the ground directly beneath it was much too stony, and it also sloped sideways at two sharply conflicting angles. In front of the canyon entrance the ground was much more level, and there were far fewer boulders strewn around, but if the pilot tried to bring the helicopter any closer, there would be a serious risk that the tips of his rotors would strike the overhanging rocks.

No – Martin reckoned that this helicopter was simply hovering here to guard them, so that they wouldn't try to get away. The pilot of the second helicopter must have gone looking for a place to land nearby, and a team of ESS security guards was probably making their way toward them, even now.

Martin stayed where he was, keeping his head well down. From the random way that the security guard on the side of the helicopter kept looking around, it was clear that he hadn't spotted him yet.

‘What's happening, Martin?' Saskia shouted, from behind him. ‘Can't we just make a run for it?'

‘We wouldn't stand a chance! Besides – I think the other chopper must have put down someplace, and they'll be sending some of their goons on foot! I want to see which direction they're coming from first!'

That was one of the lessons he had learned in Afghanistan, the hard way. Until you find out what your enemy's planning to do, do nothing. Watch and assess.

He didn't have to wait too long. After only a few minutes, four ESS security guards came jog-trotting around the side of the mountain. They were all dressed in full combat gear, with helmets and face masks, and three of them were armed with carbines. They took up positions on either side of the helicopter, their weapons raised. They could see only Santos and Susan and the children, who were obviously no threat to them, but they kept their distance. It was more than likely that some of them had been in the team that had tried to catch up with Martin at Peta's house, and that was why they were being so wary.

The security guard on the side of the helicopter dropped down a white heavy-duty bullhorn to the leader of the men on foot. He caught it and slung the lanyard around his wrist, and then he switched it on and tested it out. ‘
One – two – three
!
Can you people hear me
?
Put up your hands if you can hear me
!'

Santos and the children looked at each other apprehensively, and then Santos gave the security guard a jerky, reluctant wave. Although the helicopter was roaring so loudly, the bullhorn amplified the security guard's voice to more than ninety decibels. On a quiet day, they could have heard him more than a mile away.

‘
OK, good
!' he bellowed. ‘
We're looking for only two people
!
You got it
?
We don't care about the rest of you
!
The rest of you are free to go wherever you want
!'

Martin glanced over his shoulder at Saskia. She was holding Mina close to her chest, her fingers buried in Mina's greasy hair, and she was frowning with worry. ‘She's really sick, Martin! Maybe we should just give ourselves up! I mean, what are they going to do to us?'

‘Just stay down,' Martin told her. ‘I don't trust these clowns one inch.'

‘
We're looking for Martin Makepeace
!
You got that
?
Martin Makepeace we're looking for
!
And Saskia Vane
!
That's Sas-ki-a Vane! Those are the two individuals we
need to locate
!
The rest of you, you're all free to go
!'

Saskia said, ‘Come on, Martin! This is all over! We can't go on running any more! The kids can't take it, and I don't think I can, either!'

‘Please, Saskia! Trust me!' said Martin. ‘Just stay where you are!'

‘What about your own kids – Ella here, and Tyler! What about your ex? You're not going to put them through any more of this, are you?'

‘Saskia—' Martin began, but then he was interrupted again by the security guard with the bullhorn.

‘
We're not going to wait here for ever, people
!
We need Martin Makepeace and Saskia Vane to come forward and give themselves up
!
If they don't, we'll be forced to take punitive measures against you
!

He paused, waiting for Santos to respond, but Santos did nothing more than draw Mikey and Nathan closer to him. The security guard lifted up the bullhorn again and announced, ‘
Listen up! Five! I'll give you five! If Martin Makepeace and Saskia Vane fail to show themselves by then, we're going to confiscate your vehicles and take you back to the city under arrest! We have the legal authority and make no mistake we'll use it!
'

Saskia suddenly stood up, still carrying Mina in her arms.

‘Saskia – no – for Christ's sake!' said Martin, and snatched at the leg of her pants as she pushed her way past him, but she shook herself free.

She walked out in front of the Eldorado and stood there defiantly. ‘I'm Saskia Vane!' she shouted. ‘If you want me, you'd better come get me! But you let everybody else go!'

Immediately, with no further warning, the security guard with the bullhorn pointed at Saskia, with his arm held out straight, and two of his men lifted their carbines and fired at her. Saskia dropped on to the rocks and rolled over, and Mina tumbled out of her arms and lay next to her.

Another security guard fired, but the bullets ricocheted off the ground. One of them smashed one of the Eldorado's headlights, and the other pinged off its radiator grille.

Santos spread his arms out wide and tried to shepherd all of his grandchildren back behind his truck and out of the line of fire. Susan stumbled, and fell on to one knee, but she managed to get back on her feet again without dropping little George.

Mikey, however, pulled himself away from Santos and started to run toward Saskia and Mina, as they lay on the ground.

‘That's my baby sister!' he screamed. ‘Don't shoot! Don't shoot! That's my baby sister! She's sick!'

‘Mikey!' shouted Santos. ‘Mikey, come back here!'

But Mikey kept running, his eyes wild and his hair sticking up.

‘That's my baby sister! Don't shoot!'

He had nearly reached Mina when a single shot cracked, almost drowned by the noise of the helicopter. Mikey stumbled and cartwheeled and then pitched forward on to the rocks. He managed to lift his head up a little, but then he fell forward again, and lay still.